The Ravens will cruise into their bye week on a three-game winning streak after they suffocated the host New Orleans Saints, 27-13, on “Monday Night Football” Nov. 7.
The Ravens (6-3) jumped to a 14-0 lead and never let the Saints threaten, holding them to two field goals over the first 55 minutes and using their relentless, ground-and-pound rushing attack to control the tempo and the clock in the second half.
Playing without top receiver Rashod Bateman, who has been placed on injured reserve with a foot injury, and All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews (shoulder/knee), who missed a game because of injury for the first time in his career, quarterback Lamar Jackson was deliberate and efficient, completing 12 of 22 passes for 133 yards. Ten different players made at least one catch.
The Ravens never trailed after Jackson sold a quarterback rollout run to the right and then lofted a 24-yard touchdown pass to rookie tight end Isaiah Likely. His second touchdown in two weeks gave the Ravens a 7-0 lead late in the first quarter.
They increased the lead to 14-0 on the first of two touchdown runs by running back Kenyan Drake (24 carries, 93 yards) with 2:00 left in the first half, capping a 14-play, 86-yard drive that lasted nearly half of the second quarter.
And that proved to be plenty as the Ravens defense limited the Saints to 243 yards of offense, their lowest total of the season.
The Saints’ lone touchdown came when tight end Juwan Johnson caught a pass and raced down the right sideline for a 41-yard score with 4:13 left. It appeared both cornerback Marcus Peters and safety Chuck Clark gave up on the play, assuming incorrectly that Johnson had stepped out of bounds.
But the Saints opted against an onside kick trailing 27-13, and the Ravens were able to chew up nearly all the remaining time en route to their third straight win.
Here are five quick impressions of the win, which gives the Ravens a one-game lead in the AFC North as they head into their bye:
1. The defense is building toward something special.
First-year Ravens defensive coordinator Mike Macdonald has had to be patient, waiting for his full complement of players to become available. Two of his expected top edge rushers, Tyus Bowser and rookie second-round draft pick David Ojabo, have been rehabbing torn Achilles injuries all summer and fall.
Bowser made his 2022 debut in this game, and Macdonald got another huge bonus when the Ravens traded for Chicago Bears inside linebacker Roquan Smith last week. An improved edge group, plus an improved inside linebackers group led by Smith, has to leave Macdonald smiling, and the new faces showed immediate dividends.
Bowser, who led the Ravens with seven sacks last year, flushed Saints quarterback Andy Dalton from the pocket and forced a tone-setting, third-down incompletion on the Saints’ opening series.
On the next series, Saints running back Alvin Kamara was stonewalled by Smith on two straight short-yardage running plays. Smith finished his Ravens debut with five tackles, including a nifty open-field stop on Kamara after he caught a pass and looked to have a lot of running room had he gotten past Smith.
A pair of early-season meltdowns left the Ravens ranked dead last in the league in total defense, but they have steadily improved during the past month — they entered this game ranked 24th — and that continued in New Orleans.
2. Justin Houston is playing like he is 10 years younger.
Outside linebacker Justin Houston came back to the Ravens for his 12th season at age 33, and he figured to be a complementary part of the Ravens’ edge rush group. Instead, he has been its heart. Houston recorded 2.5 sacks in this game, giving him at least two sacks in three straight games and a team-high 8.5 sacks this year — more than anyone on the team recorded last year.
He now has 110.5 sacks in his career, the third-highest total among active players.
For good measure, Houston grabbed a deflected pass for his fifth career interception, setting up the Ravens deep in New Orleans territory; three plays later, Kenyan Drake barreled up the middle for a three-yard touchdown run and a 27-6 Ravens lead.
With a lack of depth at outside linebacker when the season began, Houston was pressed into playing about 67 percent of the defensive snaps during the first two games of the season. It was an unsustainable work load, and indeed, Houston suffered a groin injury that cost him three games.
Since returning to action, Houston’s workload has been cut, making him much more effective when he is on the field. With the signing of Jason Pierre-Paul, the return of Tyus Bowser, and the imminent arrival of rookie second-round pick David Ojabo, the Ravens’ outside linebacker group is developing into what the Ravens had hoped it could be, and a revitalized Houston is leading the way.
3. Lamar Jackson isn’t putting up huge passing numbers, but he doesn’t need to.
For the second straight game, the Ravens got the lead and then essentially wore down the opposition with a relentless ground assault in the second half. A week after the Ravens piled up 204 rushing yards in the second half in a 27-22 win against Tampa Bay, they ran 24 times for 132 yards in the second half at New Orleans.
Lamar Jackson completed just two of six passes for 12 yards in the second half, but when the Ravens offense is running as it wants to, he doesn’t need to do any more than that through the air. (In the win at Tampa Bay last week, he threw just eight passes in the second half, going 8-for-8.)
Jackson finished this game with 11 carries for 82 yards, and Kenyan Drake totaled 24 carries for 93 yards and two scores as the Ravens dominated on the ground, possessing the ball for more than 37 minutes.
To be sure, the Ravens’ offensive game plan was affected by the absence of All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews (shoulder/knee) and wide receiver Rashod Bateman (foot), and Jackson finished with very underwhelming passing numbers: 12-for-22, 133 yards and one touchdown, with his 12 completions spread to 10 different targets, and no pass covering more than 24 yards.
If that sounds like a “game manager,” the label often given to a quarterback who doesn’t dazzle through the air, so be it. Jackson again put his dual-threat ability on display, and that’s one reason the Ravens converted nine of 15 third downs, leaving the Saints defense unable to get off the field.
Jackson and the Ravens were dealing with a shorthanded group of receivers — which invites front-office scrutiny in its own right — but once again, Jackson operated his offense in what coach John Harbaugh likes to call “winning football.”
4. When the stakes are higher, Lamar Jackson will need to be better through the air.
To be sure, Jackson had to play this game without his top target in tight end Mark Andrews, and without the team’s presumptive No. 1 wide receiver in Rashod Bateman. Veteran wide receiver DeSean Jackson, signed a couple of weeks ago to be a big-play threat, was slowed by a hamstring injury, though he did haul in a 16-yard reception for his first catch as a Raven.
Jackson finished 12 of 22 for 133 yards, but he missed a couple of potential big plays that were there, and occasionally he failed to see an open receiver before the pocket collapsed.
Early in the game, Jackson had Isaiah Likely open down the right side of the field but overthrew him on what would have been a huge gain. Then in the third quarter, Jackson scrambled out of trouble and had wide receiver Demarcus Robinson wide open underneath on third-and-8 for an easy first down, but the pass was nowhere near Robinson. Jackson seemed to know he missed that chance, too; he dropped onto his back on the turf after the play in apparent frustration. The Ravens got a field goal on the next play for a 17-3 lead.
Jackson’s completion percentage this season is .623, which ranks 27th in the league and is the lowest since his rookie year. He got away with a few misfires tonight because the Ravens defense was suffocating and the ground game controlled the clock.
Can he do that later in the year, when the stakes are higher, the competition tougher, the margin for error less?
5. The Ravens are very much trending upwards as they hit the bye.
The Ravens roll into their bye week with a three-game winning streak, a one-game lead in the AFC North and a very forgiving schedule for the next month. Although wide receiver Rashod Bateman (foot) has joined Michael Pierce, Kyle Fuller and Ja’Wuan James and others on season-ending injured reserve, the Ravens should get back several key injured players, including tight end Mark Andrews, running backs Gus Edwards and J.K. Dobbins, and safety Marcus Williams for the stretch run.
Coming out of the bye, the Ravens face four teams with a combined record of 10-24: They host the Carolina Panthers (2-7) on Nov. 20, then go to Jacksonville (3-6) before hosting Denver (3-5) and visiting Pittsburgh (2-6).
Granted, Jacksonville has provided its share of horrors for the Ravens — think the 12-7 snoozer in Jacksonville in 2011 or the 44-7 massacre in London — but the Ravens figure to be a solid favorite in all four games.
The Ravens know they could easily be 8-1 were it not for a couple of spectacular late-game implosions, but they have to feel good about how they have rebounded and secured back-to-back quality road wins at Tampa Bay and New Orleans.
Now the players get to scatter for four days of rest and relaxation and will return with a chance to separate from the rest of the AFC North as the season hits the homestretch.
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox